Stargroves

Stargroves (also known as Stargrove House) is a manor house and associated estate at East Woodhay in the English county of Hampshire. The house belonged to Mick Jagger during the 1970s and was a recording venue for the Rolling Stones and various other rock bands, as well as a filming location for Doctor Who.

A distant view of Stargroves

History

The Goddard family owned the estate from 1565 until about 1830. Oliver Cromwell stopped at Stargroves after the second battle of Newbury (27 October 1644), and was entertained by the owner, John Goddard; the basin or china bowl in which his breakfast (toast and ale) was served is in the custody of the rector besides some letters referring to the incident. Edward Goddard owned the estate from 1778 to 1788. It was also owned by Capt. Sir F. H. W. Carden.[1]

In the early 1840s Stargrove House was destroyed by a fire. Around 1848 a new manor house was built, designed in an ornate, Victorian Gothic style in the manner of a French château. The new manor house was bought by a Captain Ramsay, and in 1879, the house was sold to Sir Frederick Walter Carden, who made alterations to the house and landscaped the park.[2]

Stargroves is noted for its revivalist architectural features such as castellations, corner turrets and Tudor revival windows. Today, Stargrove House is a Grade II listed building.[3]

1970s

Mick Jagger purchased the estate in 1970 for £55,000 from Sir Henry Carden.[4]

The Rolling Stones recorded at Stargroves before their move to France in spring 1971. These recordings were laid down via a mobile recording studio control room located in a custom-built truck known as the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. The band recorded a number of albums and singles at Stargroves, including various tracks that appeared on Exile on Main Street, Sticky Fingers and It's Only Rock 'n Roll.[5]

Other bands also recorded at Stargroves using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. The Who recorded songs such as "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Pure and Easy" in 1971. In 1972, Led Zeppelin recorded songs that later appeared on the albums Houses of the Holy (1973), Physical Graffiti (1975) and Coda (1982). Other artists to have recorded with the RSM (Rolling Stones Mobile) include Deep Purple, Status Quo, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Horslips and Iron Maiden.

In the 1970s, Sir Mark Palmer and his band of wealthy New Age travellers and their horse-drawn caravans spent much time at Stargroves.[4]

The house's exterior and its grounds were extensively used for filming the Doctor Who serials Pyramids of Mars (1975) and Image of the Fendahl (1977) from Tom Baker's time as the Fourth Doctor.[6]

Later owners

Jagger sold Stargroves in 1979, for £200,000, to Boxford businessman John Varley. It was then bought by Swedish businessman, Claus Bourghardt, in 1984, for £500,000.[7] Paul Dupee Jr, the owner of the Boston Celtics purchased the house in 1984 and sold it in 1998, having created a basketball court and expansive gardens.

In 1998, Rod Stewart bought Stargroves for £2.5 million from Frank Williams but never moved in. He split with his wife Rachel Hunter soon after exchanging contracts and sold it.[8] In 2012, Stargroves was sold for more than its £15 million listing price to a member of the Sackler family.[8][9]

References
  1. 'Parishes: East Woodhay', A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 4 (1911), pp. 305–307. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  2. "Stargrove". Hampshire Garden Trust. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  3. Stuff, Good. "Stargrove – East Woodhay – Hampshire – England | British Listed Buildings". www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  4. Christopher Sandford (26 April 2012). The Rolling Stones: Fifty Years. Simon and Schuster. pp. 189–. ISBN 978-0-85720-104-1.
  5. Janovitz, Bill (23 July 2013). Rocks Off: 50 Tracks That Tell the Story of the Rolling Stones. St. Martin's Press. pp. 191, 269. ISBN 9781250026323.
  6. McEwan, Cameron K. (2015). Unofficial Doctor Who: The Big Book of Lists. Race Point Publishing. p. 166. ISBN 978-1631060427.
  7. Jane Meredith (18 February 2014). "Grumbles over work at east end mansion". Newbury Today. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  8. Anna Mikhailova (19 August 2012). "Moving on: Jagger edge". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  9. Alex Morrell (1 July 2015). "The OxyContin Clan: The $14 Billion Newcomer to Forbes 2015 List of Richest U.S. Families". Forbes. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.